Manufacturing electrodes for electrical accumulators by means of continually-working machines.



No. 836,261. PATENTED NOV. 20, 1906.

' E. W; JUNGNER.

MANUFACTURING ELECTRODES FOR ELECTRICAL AGGUMULATORS BY MEANfi OF GONTINUALLY WORKINGMACHINESn APPLICATION FILED SEPT, 11,1905.

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PATENTED NOV. 20, 1906.

. E. W. JUNGNER. MANUFACTURING ELECTRODES FOR ELECTRICAL ACCUMULATORS B Y MEANS 0F CONTINUALLY WORKING MACHINES. APPLICATION IILBD SEPT 11,1905

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NOV. 20,1906.

, PATENTED E. W. JUNGNER. MANUFACTURING ELECTRODES FOR ELECTRICAL AGGUMULATORS BY M EANSY 0P OONTINUALLY WORKING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.11,1906. v

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am 0 9 l 0 2 V U N D E T N E T A R E N G N U .J W B 1 6 6 3 0 N MANUFACTURING ELECTRODES FDR ELECTRICAL ACCUMULATORS BY MEANS OF GONTINUALLY WORKING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11, 1905.

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UN PTArTlEFi PATENT @FFEQE.

ERNST WALDEMAR JUNGNER, OF KNEIPPBADEN, SWEDEN, ASSlG-NOR TO NYA ACKUMULATOR-AKTlEBOLAGET JUNGNER, OF STOCKHOLM, SWE- DEN, A COMPANY.

MACHlNES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 20, 1906.

Application filed September 11,1905. Serial No. 277,986.

To all whont it THAI/[j concern.

Be it known that l, ERNs'r WALDEMAR JUNGNER, asubject of the iiingof Sweden and Norway, residing at hlneippbaden, Sweden, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Manufacturing Electrodes for Electrical Accumulators by Means of Contin ually-Norking Machines; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the 2' rt to which it apiertains to make and use the same, reference eing had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to the manufacture of electrodes, and has for its object to auto- -matically and mechanically assemble the parts oi" the electrodes with their active massesto produce an electrode as thin as possible with the least possible quantity of metallic carrier and at the same time reduce the cost of manufacture.

The present invention relates more particularly to the method of making such electrodes, especially those designed for use in alkaline electrolytes, though electrodes for use with other electrolytes may be made by the same process.

In the drawings i have diagranlmatically shown the machine for carrying out the process, the specific elements ol. which machine are known, and l l we illustrated the resulting product at the several stages or steps of the process.

Referring to said drawings, in which like )arts are similarly desi nated Fi ure 1 is a diagrammatic view of the machine [or carrying out my invention. Fig. 2 is a vimvillustrating the ribbon from which the carriers are to be made at the iirst stage of manufacture,

having perforated and imperl oratcd fields.

Fig. '3 illustrates the rollers for grooving the strip. Fig. 4 illustrates one method of look ing opposite carrier-plates together. Fig. 5 shows two carrier-planes sewed together by a wire, the lines oi stitching being along the imperforate portions oi the plate. Fig. 6 indicates the manner of severing the electrodes from the strip. Fig. 7 illustrates one fornnof finished electrode. Fig. 8 illustrates a group of such forming one pole of an accumulator.

Fig. 9 ill ustrates a separator for adjacent electrodes. Fig. 10 illustrates the assembled electrodes with the insulating layers or sheets between them.

The inactive warriors for the active masses are made as light as possible to maintain the proper degree of rigidity, hardness, and conductivity, and to this end I make them of metalsuch as copper, nickel, iron, and the likcand use such rolled into thin foil or comparatively wide ribbons, (one hundred and iil'ty millimeters or more,) and they may be of unlimited length, this condition rendering possible the making of electrodes by the present method of procedure. These thin ribbons '2" and 1', are fed from opposite sides of the a m-crawls, Fig. l, by means of feedrollcrs o, there being two pairs of feed-rollers at each side of the machine, as shown in Fig. 1, for the independent ribbons; but I do not limit myself to such number, as they may be provided wherever found necessary in the course of the ribbons through the apparatus.

Between the pairs of feed-rollers at the sides of the machine, at the points marked a and (1,, l perforate the ribbons by means of anysuitable perl'oratiirg-machine, so that the rib bcn. will be perforated into, preferably, but not necessarily, longitudinal parallel fields p, Fig. 2, separated by imperforate portions n.

11' the ribbons are not made of nickel or an alloy containing nickel, in order to render them insoluble in the electrolyte they must be coated with a metal that is insoluble in the electrolyte, and to this end each perforated ribbon or foil is run through an electroplatingtank vN and N, and made the cathode-thereof, and this 1. do by passing the ribbon foil over rollers s and 8;, arranged Zigzag in the tanks, and suspending suitable anodes an and on between and among the rollers so as not to be touched by the ribbons in' their pasage through the tanks.

The anodes are all connected to the positive pole of a suitable source of electricity,

while the metal guide-rollers 8 the lower roller o of the second pair of such rollers, and the rolls V and V to be described, are all connected to the negative pole of said source of electricity, thereby causing the ribbon running over them to act as cathode.

On leaving tanks N and N1 the ribbon r passes between rolls V and V and the ribbon 13 between rolls V and V which are shaped substantially as shown in Fig. 3, whereby the cooperating flanges or channels of these rolls engage and shape the imperforate fields n of the ribbon, which are corrugated longitudinally by said rolls. The two ribbons are then brought down between-the two rolls W W sufiiciently'distanced from each other to produce an electrode of the desired. thickness, therebyallowing spaces between oppositely-situated and adjacent perforated. fields 1). As the ribbons feed to and between the rolls W the active material is also fed between the ribbons r and A from any suitable mechanism (shown diagrami'natically) as from a hopper 7), through which hopper the active mass is constantly forced and is compressed between the carriers. Any suitable mechanism for feeding the active mass may be used.

After leaving the rollsW the two strips, with the active mass between them, are guided between guide-rolls 01 two pairs of which are shown, and the ribbons are united along the imperforate fields a at the point 0, Fig. 1. This may be done either by sewing with a suitable thread or with a wire of nickel or by means of rivets. Another suitable way is shown in Fig. 4, where square or rectangular laps are punched from one ribbon and folded each upon itself, as shown at 10, and similar laps 11, punched from the other ribbon,pass through the holes and fold over the laps on the first ribbon.

If sewing is resorted to, the ribbons will have the appearance shown in Fig. 5, where the sewing-holes are indicated by T.

In a continuous ribbon it is of course necessary to interrupt the feed of active material, the perforating, and the uniting or sewing at intervals to form the separate electrodes. The united ribbons have the appearance illustrated in Fig. 6, where the spaces 7c are not perforated and do not include active mass between them.

At (Z, Fig. 1, the separate electrodes are cut off along the lines i and '5 Fig. 6.

The electrode-ribbons are united or sewed together transversely, as shown in Fig. 7.

This may be an independent operation, or it may be performed by suitable machinery timed to cooperate with the other machines in the path of the ribbon.

A hole h, Fig. 7, is stamped in each elec trode, so that electrodes of the same kind can be threaded on nickelplated cylinders and spaced by nickel-plated metal rings and screwed together to form one set of plates or pole of the battery, as shown in Fig.8.

The best and perhaps only method of effectively insulating the electrodes from oaci'a other with a minin'ium distance between them consists in the use of perforated foils or sheets of insulating mapossible I material m, Fig. 10, strips 11. of like or similar material, three electrodes 6, e,, and e ,with the insulating material between them, being shown in said Fig. 10. The main advantage of such a system of manufacture is the" greatly-reduced cost of the product, and if .the active mass ofthe negative electrodes consists of oxygen compounds of iron, which are comparatively cheap, such electrodes can be produced at a very small cost. This is articularly advantageous, since in accumulittors with invariable electrol te the life of such negative electrodes is ess than the other electrodes used in the same kind of battery, so that these electrodes of oxygen com: pounds of iron must be re laced y others, although at comparatively. ong intervals.

I am enabled to employ extremely thin metal foil in making the electrodes 0.03 millimeter or less and insert between these thin carriers an even layer of active mass, 0.7 millimeter or less. Said electrodes can there fore be made very thin and be placed very close together, and I thereby obtain an -accu-' mulator which at discharge can deliver more energy per unit of time, while maintaining constant tension, than any accumulator heretofore constructed, and,'furthermore, while' maintaining a hi her efficiency can be charged in a very much s iorter time.

Since the electrodes are very thin, each particle of active mass will be in good conductive connection with the inactive carriers, so that the absorption and reaction of the mass will approach the theoretical values, while heretofore only sixty per cent. of the theoretical values have been attained, and while the capacity of such accumulator per unit of weight is increased the cost of the material and production per unit of capacity are decreased in a corresponding degree.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The method of making accumulatorelectrodes, which comprises feeding continuous metallic ribbons toward each other, per forating the ribbons, then feeding an active mass between saidribbons and finally uniting the ribbons and severing the electrodes thus formed.

2. The method of making accumulatorclectrodes, which comprises feeding continuous metallic ribbons toward each other, perforating the ribbons, electroplating them, feeding an active mass between them and finally uniting the ribbons and severing the electrodes thus formed.

IIO

3. The method of making accumulatorelectrodes, which comprises feeding continuous metallic ribbons toward means to feed active material, perforating the ribbons in parallel fields separated by im erforate fields, electroplating the ribbons Wit a metal substantially insoluble in the electrolyte, feeding active material between the erforated plated ribbons, uniting the rilibons along the imperforate fields and severing the electrodes from the continuous united stri substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The method of makin accumulatorelectrodes, which comprises eeding continuous metallic ribbons, perforating the ribbons during their travel into arallel perforated fields separated by imperfbrate fields, forming depressions along the imperforate fields separating the perforated ones, feeding active material between the ribbons, rolling the two ribbons together to compress the active mass and cause the opposite imperforate fields to lie adjacent one another, uniting the ribbons along the imperforate fields and severing the electrodes.

5. The method of making accumulatorelectrodes, which comprises feeding continuat one end of the electrode b electrodes which comprises ous metallic ribbons, perforating the ribbons into longitudinal parallel fields separated by imperforate fields, electroplating the perfo-' rated ribbons with nickel, formin a depression along the imperforate fields, ceding the ribbons between compression-rollers and simultaneously feeding between, the ribbons suitable active material, sewin the ribbons together along the imperforate elds and separating the electrodes from the united ribbon a transverse cut and at the other end b a iagonal cut.

6. The method of ma g accumulatoreeding metallic ribbons toward each other, and feeding active mass between the ribbons durin their movement, uniting the ribbons to ho d the mass between them and finally severing the electrodes from the continuous strip so formed, substantially as described. I

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNST WALDEMAR JUNGNER. Witnesses:

FRITHIOF N YLIN, 0

SVEN PETERSSEN. I 

